What is Darwinia

Summary

Initially developed by Itering.io, Darwinia focuses on the construction of blockchain and cross-chain infrastructure.

Darwinia powers DApps' cross-chain capabilities through two critical solutions: Darwinia Msgport and Darwinia EVM + XCMP.

The Darwinia network consists of Darwinia Chain and Crab Chain.

Darwinia's native token, RING, starts with an initial supply of 2 billion and reaches a hard cap of 10 billion.

What is Darwinia?

Initially developed by Itering.io, Darwinia focuses on the construction of blockchain and cross-chain infrastructure. It has evolved into a decentralized brand, with technical support and operational services provided by Darwinia, dedicated to offering cross-chain functionalities for decentralized applications. As a decentralized organization, Darwinia is composed of developers, enthusiasts, and stakeholders, free from control by any entity. This structure facilitates a more democratic and opener approach to governance and development.

How Darwinia works

The Darwinia ecosystem consists of two networks maintained by its core development team. Here are the main differences for each chain:

Darwinia Chain: A smart contract platform compatible with Ethereum, utilizing the Polkadot parachain security model. Compared to Ethereum, it provides a better smart contract experience, featuring faster transaction speeds and lower gas fees. As a Polkadot parachain, Darwinia Chain acts as a secure and programmable bridge between the Polkadot ecosystem and EVM-based chains, such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Binance Smart Chain.

Crab Chain: A canary network and a parachain on Kusama. Canary networks like Crab are used for testing and experimenting with changes before deploying them to the mainnet. The Crab Network allows developers to test and refine their applications in a real-world environment.

Strengths of Darwinia products

Darwinia stands out in both technology and community engagement. On the technical front, its strengths are primarily reflected in Darwinia Msgport and Darwinia EVM + XCMP.

Darwinia Msgport is a versatile cross-chain messaging architecture designed to provide universal interfaces for exchanging messages across blockchains. It supports two protocols: LCMP (Light Client Messaging Protocol) and ORMP Oracle Relayer Messaging Protocol). These protocols offer different functionalities and features, enabling multi-chain application developers to choose the most suitable cross-chain messaging layer for their users. By utilizing in-chain message calls to Msgport contracts, smart contracts create communication and interaction across heterogeneous chains. These functionalities empower Msgport-based cross-chain DApps to provide users with an experience closely similar to that of traditional single-chain DApps, offering various possibilities for developing multi-chain DApps. Darwinia EVM + XCMP features full EVM compatibility, lower transaction costs, higher TPS compared to Ethereum, out-of-the-box cross-chain functionality, growing community-driven development, a strong consensus security model based on Polkadot, and decentralized governance capabilities.

On the community front, Darwinia is no longer a static product but a dynamic ecosystem that adapts to community needs. Owned and run by the community, Darwinia is a diverse collective comprising individuals, companies, and DAOs, driving the decentralized brand forward continuously. Currently, Darwinia is focused on providing solutions for cross-chain functionality in DApps, aligned with its overarching goal of powering their cross-chain capabilities.

Darwinia's tokenomics and community governance

Darwinia is committed to establishing itself as a decentralized cross-chain platform for blockchain applications. Its token, RING, serves a multifaceted role within the Darwinia ecosystem. It incentivizes block authors, covers transaction fees, acts as collateral in the relayer fee market, functions as a governance tool, and stimulates community governance. The initial supply of RING is set at 2 billion, with a fixed cap and a predetermined inflation rule. Its maximum supply is 10 billion.

Similar to Polkadot Governance V1, Darwinia's governance model aims to bring together active token holders and a council to collectively oversee decisions related to network upgrades. Whether proposals are initiated by the public (token holders) or the council, they must undergo a vote through a referendum. This mechanism allows all token holders to engage in decision-making and increase their voting weight based on their holdings in the network.

Note: The Darwinia Council plays a pivotal role in governance. It is elected by token holders and is responsible for making major decisions related to the network. Additionally, Darwinia has a technical committee composed of experts with extensive knowledge of the Darwinia protocol and its underlying technology. Their primary responsibilities include evaluating and reviewing proposals, maintaining the network, upgrading proposals, and modifying the protocol.

The bottom line

Cross-chain technology allows for interoperability between different blockchain systems, enabling seamless collaboration. It also facilitates the exchange of assets and resources across blockchains and helps the scalable application of blockchain systems. Furthermore, it bridges data silos, making information more accessible and usable. As blockchain technology grows, cross-chain is becoming an inevitable trend. With years of experience in cross-chain network development, Darwinia has accumulated sophisticated underlying technology, giving it an edge on the technological landscape.